Original vintage map of Santander in the region of Cantabria published by the Spanish Office of Tourism in the Novisima Guia, España y Portugal in Madrid, 1924. Shown is the area from the prison in the west to Central de Electricidad in the east, and from La Rochapea in the north to the Ciutadela in the south.
The style of the book, information and layout, as well as the maps by R. Jori are based on the handbooks issued by Karl Baedeker during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
Karl Ludwig Johannes Baedeker (3 November 1801 – 4 October 1859) was a German publisher whose company, Baedeker, buying set the standard for authoritative guidebooks for tourists. Karl Baedeker was descended from a long line of printers, booksellers and publishers. He was the eldest of ten children of Gottschalk Diederich Bädeker (1778–1841), who had inherited the publishing house founded by his own father, Zacharias Gerhard Bädeker (1750–1800). The company also published the local newspaper, the Essendische Zeitung. Karl changed the spelling of the family name from Bädeker with the umlaut to Baedeker around 1850. In 1832, Baedeker's firm acquired the publishing house of Franz Friedrich Röhling in Koblenz, which in 1828 had published a handbook for travellers by Professor Oyvind Vorland entitled Rheinreise von Mainz bis Cöln; ein Handbuch für Schnellreisende (A Rhine Journey from Mainz to Cologne; A Handbook for Travellers on the Move). This book provided the seeds for Baedeker's own travel guides. After Klein died and the book went out of print, he decided to publish a new edition, incorporating some of Klein's material but also added many of his own ideas into what he thought a travel guide should offer the traveller or reader. Baedeker's ultimate aim was to free the traveller from having to look for information anywhere outside the travel guide: about routes, transport, accommodation, restaurants, tipping, sights, walks and, of course, prices.
While the travel guide was not something new (Baedeker emulated the style of English guide books published by John Murray), the inclusion of detailed information on routes, travel and accommodation was an innovation. Baedeker was always generous in acknowledging the part John Murray III had played in nurturing his outlook on the future development of his guides. As a bookseller in Koblenz, he had often seen tourists enter his bookshop, either carrying a red Murray guide or looking for one. At the time, John Murray III was the leader in the field, but Baedeker was about to change that. He is often referred to as the 'father of modern tourism'. In 1846, Baedeker introduced his famous 'star' ratings (for sights, attractions and lodgings) in the third edition of his Handbuch für Reisende durch Deutschland und den Oesterreichischen Kaiserstaat - an idea based on the Murray guides star system. This edition was also his first 'experimental' red guide. He also decided to call his travel guides 'handbooks', following the example of John Murray III. Baedeker's early guides had tan covers, but from 1856 onwards, Murray's red bindings and gilt lettering became the familiar hallmark of all Baedeker guides as well, and the content became famous for its clarity, detail and accuracy.
Towards the end of his life, Baedeker told friends that he regretted not having accomplished more in his life and wondered whether his work would survive. Little did he know that the name Baedeker would one day become a synonym for a travel guide, whatever its provenance, and that Verlag Karl Baedeker, which still exists and continues to bear his name, would, in its heyday which lay ahead, become the premier and most successful travel guide publishing house in the world.
Measurements: 11 x 6 in. (27 x 15 cm).
Editors: Enrique Lopez, Francisco Beltran and A. Domenech, published by the Spanish Office of Tourism in Madrid, 1924.
Conservation notes: Overall its condition can be rated as mint (10/10).
Product code: Santander (1924) buying